{"id":546518,"date":"2026-07-17T19:10:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T19:10:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/546518\/"},"modified":"2026-07-17T19:10:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T19:10:10","slug":"qa-how-a-12-year-succession-plan-helped-hb-wealth-grow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/546518\/","title":{"rendered":"Q&A: How a 12-Year Succession Plan Helped HB Wealth Grow"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s hard to go for a month in the registered investment advisor sector without a new report detailing the challenge of succession planning<\/a> in this founder-led, client-driven industry.<\/p>\n

Just take this week. According to Charles Schwab\u2019s annual RIA benchmarking survey<\/a>, just 45% of firms with under $250 million in assets under management have a written succession plan. The figures are slightly better for firms over $250 million at 65%, and are highest for Schwab\u2019s top-performing firms, identified by a series of 15 factors<\/a>, at 77%.<\/p>\n

At HB Wealth, an Atlanta-based RIA founded in 1989, the firm\u2019s succession strategy didn\u2019t seem so clear after its first decade. In 2001, firm co-founder and CEO David Homrich departed to run AMB Group<\/a>, an investment and wealth manager for client Arthur Blank, the co-founder of Home Depot.<\/p>\n

How did the firm manage through such disruption? According to current CEO Thomas Carroll, it was through forward-planning by the remaining co-founder, Andy Berg.<\/p>\n

Related:Deals & Moves: Wealth Enhancement Lands Investment, Wealth Teams Overseeing $993M<\/a><\/p>\n

Having seen disruption at the top firsthand, Berg eventually put together a 12-year succession plan that not only included his pathway out of running the firm but also a focus on equity-sharing with partner advisors.<\/p>\n

That plan led to Carroll\u2019s appointment as CEO in January 2024. In the course of that year, he oversaw the firm\u2019s sale of its second minority stake to TPG Growth<\/a>, as well as its largest acquisition, a $6.4 billion multi-family office based in Tyson, Md.<\/p>\n

Last year, the firm rebranded from Homrich Berg Wealth Management to HB Wealth<\/a>. It has also continued to expand its service offerings\u2014just this week announcing a new division focused<\/a> on institutional advisory and an OCIO offering.<\/p>\n

Wealth Management recently spoke with Carroll about the firm\u2019s growth and continued focus on sharing equity among employees.<\/p>\n

The following has been edited for length and clarity.<\/p>\n

Wealth Management: Tell me about HB Wealth\u2019s roots.<\/p>\n

TC: We were founded in 1989 by two ex-CPAs who wanted to leave the practice of accountancy and start an independent wealth management firm. The RIA was not really a thing in 1989, so they were a little bit ahead of their time\u2014trailblazers in some respects. They started it with a loan from one of the founders\u2019 fathers. Fast forward 37 years, and we\u2019re at about $32 billion in assets, 350 employees and thousands of clients. We started in Atlanta, and that\u2019s still our headquarters. The vast majority of our teammates reside here, and in recent years we\u2019ve started to expand geographically.<\/p>\n

WM: When did you join the firm, and how did that come about?<\/p>\n

Related:OneDigital Draws $1.8B Wealth Team from IBD Cetera<\/a><\/p>\n

TC: I joined around 2020. I was actually part of the solution for both succession planning and leadership transition. Our founder, Andy Berg, basically ran the firm for 20-plus years as CEO after our other founder, David Heinrich, left in the early 2000s to work for a client. Andy was starting to think about a leadership transition in which he could move to more of a chair role and bring someone in to run the day-to-day operations.<\/p>\n

Andy and I had known each other through our church, our kids\u2019 schools and socially in the community. He brought me in as his presumptive successor. We worked closely together for four years\u2014I was president at the time while he was CEO. During that period, I took on increasing responsibility across the organization, helped lead some growth initiatives, and built my personal equity stake in the firm. Then, in January 2024, we transitioned the CEO title to me, and he became chair of our board.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s an interesting story: Andy developed a 12-year succession plan. The first four years were to find the successor, the next four to work closely with the successor, and the last four to serve as chair of the board before he retires. We\u2019re in the very last stages of that plan now. It\u2019s nice when a plan works out as designed.<\/p>\n

Related:Schwab: Client Referrals, Hiring Lead RIA Priority List in 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

WM: When you came on, what was the discussion around ownership structure? You\u2019ve stayed majority employee-owned at a time when private equity firms are offering large sums to take majority stakes.<\/p>\n

TC: When I started, we did have a belief in broad equity distribution\u2014that\u2019s been a tenet of the firm going back well before I started. We\u2019ve always believed we should equitize leaders and advisors broadly across the firm. Even with that approach, we still had a concentration of equity with our G1 shareholder, so we needed to de-risk that a bit.<\/p>\n

I came in and built my position during that time, largely through transactions with Andy. Ultimately, we decided it would be hard to sustain that internal transition given our growth rate and the amount of equity that needed to be recycled. We thought an external minority, non-control transaction was appropriate for us at our size and scale. Looking back, it was certainly the right path for us.<\/p>\n

New Mountain Capital made that initial investment in September 2021, so we\u2019re now about five years into that. It\u2019s been a really good thing for our firm and has helped us in many respects. It was also getting harder to facilitate internal transitions in a traditional buying and purchasing way\u2014they got harder and harder to finance. We were faced with the challenge of needing to distribute earnings to help younger shareholders satisfy shareholder loans versus reinvesting cash flow in the business to support growth.<\/p>\n

WM: And that\u2019s why you had TPG Growth come in as well?<\/p>\n

TC: Yes, three years later\u2014in the fall of 2024, so we\u2019re now a year and a half into that. We went back into the equity markets and had TPG come in, again in a minority, non-control way. The three largest shareholder groups are now HB employees\u2014there are 86 of us who own the largest amount of equity\u2014and then TPG would be second in the capital stack, and New Mountain would be third.<\/p>\n

WM: What were some of the important things you wanted to maintain control over to ensure the right relationship with your minority investors?<\/p>\n

TC: There were a couple of things we said very clearly from the get-go. First, we believe very passionately about our fee-only approach to wealth management. That is the North Star for our business. It was one of the key principles we were founded on in 1989, and it\u2019s as relevant today as it was then. A condition for consideration of investment was that firms had to align around being invested in a fee-only business. That means don\u2019t show up the day after we close and start saying, \u201cHey, you guys need to sell insurance,\u201d or \u201cYou need to stand up a broker\/dealer.\u201d We were very clear about that, and frankly, the market was very supportive of that approach. I think more and more businesses\u2014and more and more clients and consumers\u2014are gravitating toward that business model because it inherently takes out some conflicts that exist across the industry.<\/p>\n

No. 2 was maintaining control. We were largely asking for control valuation with non-control governance, and that was a tough ask. But we were happy to find a partner that was willing to support that.<\/p>\n

And then, obviously, we wanted partners who would support us in making the business better. We have found tremendous application there across our capital markets functions, marketing, finance, HR and even some executives of our sponsors becoming clients. There are lots of ways these sponsors have supported our success.<\/p>\n

WM: How do you now share equity with employees?<\/p>\n

TC: We still have a core philosophy that broad equity distribution is key to our long-term success. We promoted eight new teammates to shareholders in January. The way we facilitate equity distribution is different than it was before. Previously, equity was bought and sold in private transactions. Now we have the ability to grant equity, and that was another key component to TPG\u2019s investment\u2014we stood up an equity program that allows us to grant a certain amount of equity each year to continue to promote the equity recycling that has been so important to our long-term success.<\/p>\n

We have an amount in our operating agreement that we could issue up to every year. I go and request that funding from the board, and once that funding is approved, I work with the executive team to figure out how to issue that equity.<\/p>\n

I would just add one point: This is a key driver of people wanting to come to HB and people staying at HB. Our equity is very valuable. I\u2019ve worked in financial services a long time and have seen the value in other equity instruments in my career, and the value of HB equity is real. We have the track record to show it. It\u2019s a very important part of why advisors want to come to HB, and frankly, why advisors stay at HB.<\/p>\n

WM: You\u2019ve grown into six states with multiple offices, and you have a 100% W-2 employee model. How has that model served you as you\u2019ve grown through recruiting and acquisition? Do you ever run up against advisors who push back against that structure?<\/p>\n

TC: Philosophically, there are a couple of key planks to our organization. I mentioned our fee-only approach to wealth management and broad equity distribution. A third is that we believe very strongly in integrating businesses and not aggregating assets. There are other business models out there that will take a more aggregated approach and allow acquired firms’ advisors to be more like independent contractors. We just don’t feel that’s the right approach for us.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re very transparent whenever we talk to an advisory team or a firm that might consider merging with HB that integration means a couple of things: one compensation model, one tech stack, one investment department. Obviously, delivery of investments gets curated and customized to client needs and preferences, but it\u2019s very much a \u201cone HB\u201d approach across these key pieces of the business. And of course, fee-only is another component of that.<\/p>\n

If a potential candidate or firm doesn\u2019t want to align around that, then that\u2019s okay\u2014we\u2019re just not the right fit. It\u2019s better to figure that out before we get into the deal rather than later. It’s served us well. It definitely narrows the population of advisory teams and firms that might want to merge with HB because not everyone is aligned around that, and that\u2019s okay.<\/p>\n

WM: What are your goals for the firm going into the next few years? Any particular targets for size, footprint, or geographic expansion?<\/p>\n

TC: The first goal is always to serve our existing clients expertly\u2014it starts with that. So many business models are built on the premise that the next client is the best client. We want to maintain the existing clients that we\u2019re privileged to serve. We target 98.5% client retention this year, and we\u2019re running probably north of 99%.<\/p>\n

Take care of your existing clients, and generally, they will take care of you. That leads to organic growth. Historically, 60% of our new business comes from satisfied clients making referrals to their friends, and that\u2019s great. We want to sustain that, but we\u2019re also looking to add more lead generation at the firm level. We\u2019ve invested more in our digital marketing efforts and really stood up a more robust marketing team. We\u2019re trying to do more digitally and sustain what I think has been best-in-class organic growth over the last five years from a Salesforce sales perspective.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re also leaning in a bit more to M&A. We\u2019re never going to be a serial acquirer\u2014that\u2019s just not our business, that\u2019s not our culture. But when we see a firm in a market that we think makes sense, we\u2019re going to lean in. Continued expansion across the Southeast, the Mid-Atlantic, and the Sun Belt\u2014I think we have a real opportunity to continue to expand our presence across those markets.<\/p>\n

WM: In terms of capital, will you go back to the market at all in the near term?<\/p>\n

TC: We\u2019re very well capitalized, but things are moving fast in this industry. Even though we\u2019re probably in a good spot today, that doesn\u2019t necessarily mean we\u2019ll have the capital we need a year from now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s hard to go for a month in the registered investment advisor sector without a new report detailing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":546519,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[114,268,85,46,266,267],"class_list":["post-546518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-business","tag-finance","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546518","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=546518"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546518\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/546519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=546518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=546518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=546518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}